Honesty
by elixile
Summary: Reeve takes Scarlet by surprise. Shortish drabble for this pairing, no real mature content. R&R always appreciated.


_AN: This was written for BusyWriteNow. I initially wasn't too happy with the main bulk of it, but it seems to get quite a few positive comments over at LJ so I decided to publish it here. That and it's ScarletxReeve, which is one of my favourite pairings – the UST is too delicious ^_^_

**Honesty**

There was a sweep as the door to his office opened followed by the sharp clack of stilettos. Reeve put down his glass of wine and without even turning murmured "Hello, Scarlet. What can I do for you?" He could hear impatience in her silence yet said nothing more until he heard her snicker under her breath "Why does it not surprise me that when you do drink you drink _alone_?" Tilting his head back Reeve looked up to the dark skies for a few seconds and a frown creased his brow as he brought his head back down to scan the horizon in front of him "It's... personal."

"Ha! You're pathetic. You can't even get a date for... what the hell is the occasion anyway, Tuesti?" Reeve pursed his lips and remained quiet, eyes still drifting over the skyline and tracing the plate before eventually answering. "Like I said, it's personal." It had been three years since his inauguration as Director of Urban Development. The city had become darker and there were lines now visible in the reflection he could see looking back from the glass.

Scarlet's words suddenly made him feel rather sad as she carried on "Hmf. You sure are the life of a party." Her tone was no less derisive, which only tinged the sadness with a sour anger. Scarlet always had a way of getting under his skin. Even then he did not answer the blonde Weapons Director immediately, merely pressed a hand against the window. There were a few more minutes of silence before a wheedling voice wound into his ear "What are you looking at so intently, Reee-vey?"

There. She had slipped into the mocking false sweetness that came out every so often. Reeve found he desperately wanted to hear her without all the bitchiness or bile that she played upon so well, just as he wanted to hear of something more than the neverending hiss of mako bursts and the latest glazed over 'news reports' about the non-atrocities they all knew occurred in the slums. He was tired. He just wanted a glimpse of raw honesty, but even he could not manage to face the truth of his feelings.

Or could he?

Reeve smiled then, a small poignant upturn of the lips, and a slight turn of his head, though his eyes remained fixed ahead "Many see her as the painted harlot at the seat of a world galvanised by Mako. And, there is no doubt under the surface she is twisted. That, at her core is darkness, inequity, violence and death…" His voice fell lower, resonant with conviction as Reeve turned his gaze.

From Midgar to Scarlet.

"But she _is_ beautiful..."

Scarlet's eyes widened, and the silence hung stunned between them. It was enough for Reeve to obtain a certain sense of satisfaction and enough confidence in foundation to build the following question upon "I'll pick you up at eight?" He kept his gaze steady on the blonde weapons director, though the palm flattened upon the window steamed an imprint upon the glass.

Scarlet blinked and any softness that had seeped through into her eyes from the surprise hardened into a shrill "What?" as her eyes blazed and her nostrils flared slightly. _Yes, she is beautiful._ Sometimes, when he could glimpse such raw honesty in Scarlet, Reeve almost felt alive again.

He reiterated softly, a lighter, more questioning touch this time "For dinner, I'll pick you up at eight?" His persistence apparently had not thrown Scarlet off guard as much as he had expected, and she snorted, clipping her heels as she turned "I won't have _you_ seen at my doorstep." Of course, she had managed to inflect enough into the 'you' that inferred he was nothing more than a worm, but then, Reeve was used to receiving that sort of treatment from the woman. She had not said no yet. There was hope. Or was this actually folly he was thinking of?

"Hm. There's always the train." Reeve smiled around the words. Another stunned silence fell before a resounding rendition of "Kya ha ha ha!" erupted in response. Reeve winced ever so slightly and held up his spare hand to his ear.

"If I bring a car, nobody will know it's me" his voice remained that steady, soft and low tone. The Urban Development director held no qualms in using the public transport system when necessary and he did not own a car but he was sure that he could hire a car easy enough. Failing that the Turks had their own garages in the Shinra tower "Your _reputation_ will remain intact, Scarlet." There was a pointed jibe in his words, and Reeve could see that they hit their target by the way her shoulders slightly hitched.

Scarlet's eyes narrowed fixing ahead as she flicked her hair behind her and set to stomping off, a quick wave behind her in addition to the sharp "Whatever" gave Reeve all the answers he needed. When she had disappeared finally around the corridor end, he exhaled a long breath and pressed his forehead to the cooling glass.

He'd just asked Scarlet West - of all people - for dinner.

And she had accepted.

Reeve sighed and picked up the glass of wine, smiling oddly as he returned to surveying his beautiful yet twisted city that he so honestly adored.


End file.
